NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

4/11/2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES - Pianist Falko Steinbach will perform at Northwestern State University Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. The concert is the final one of the 2006-07 Louisiana Piano Series International. Tickets are $10. Elementary and secondary school students from Louisiana and NSU students are admitted free.

Steinbach will perform his composition, "Figures" consisting of 17 choreographic etudes for piano solo.

A native of Leverkusen, Germany, Steinbach is head of the piano area of the music department at the University of New Mexico and leads the piano performance studio for solo studies. He has an extended international performance career with solo performances and recordings in the United States, Europe and Asia. Steinbach is regularly invited as a soloist, clinician and adjudicator at important international music festivals.

His repertoire ranges from Bach to contemporary classical music. For several years he was chair of "Klang Koeln," an association for contemporary music in Germany. Because new music is a significant interest for him, Steinbach frequently presents new works to audiences in lecture concerts. Steinbach has premiered numerous contemporary works, some of which have been dedicated to him. Among the composers represented in Steinbach's contemporary repertoire are Paul Dessau, Thomas Reiner, Stefan Thomas, Kurt Schwaen, Oliver Trötschel, Tilo Medek, M.C. Redel and Chris Shultis. Steinbach has also composed many works for piano, chamber music and music for voice, choirs and ensembles.

Steinbach has made 11 compact disc recordings as well as videos and has appeared widely on German and U.S. radio and television. The proceeds from one of the CDs - with works of Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin and Bartók - go to the Casa Alianza-Children's Aid of Guatemala and Amnesty International. The proceeds of his CD "Humanity Classics" with piano concertos from Mozart and Schnittke go to a home for disabled women in Bulgaria. On his CD "six take", he performs works by renowned contemporary German composers and also his own composition "Slapstick Variationen" for two pianos.

Steinbach made his concert debut when he was 12 and received a first prize in the piano competition "Jugend Musiziert" in Bergisch-Gladbach when he was 17. He was a special student at the Music Conservatory of Cologne, graduating summa cum laude and completed his solo studies with a doctorate. In addition to this, he pursued advanced studies in solo performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Steinbach has taken international master classes in Switzerland, Austria, England and Germany. Before coming to the University of New Mexico, he was head of the keyboard area at the University of Cologne. Several of his students won prizes and were finalists in state, national and international competitions in New Mexico, Germany and Italy.

Main Menu